Last Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court refused to rule on a request from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to reinstate a law banning the distribution of abortion drugs by mail during the Coronavirus pandemic, allowing providers to continue to dispense medication in this manner. 
 
In July, U.S. District Judge Theodore Chuang issued an injunction against the FDA safety requirement which required women to obtain the first medication in a two-pill abortion regimen, mifepristone, in a provider’s facility. The Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court to have the injunction lifted, but the Supreme Court refused to either grant or deny the administration’s request.
 
Chuang’s injunction was put into place for an undetermined period of time with the Supreme Court ordering him to “promptly consider” withdrawing or amending it within 40 days, based on any possible changes in pandemic circumstances. In response to the FDA’s request to reinstate the law,Supreme Court justices directed the government to make its case in more detail before a federal trial court. That process could take up to six weeks. 
 
Pro-life organization, The Susan B. Anthony List, expressed their frustration in the Supreme Court’s refusal to rule on the FDA’s recent request, stating, “We are disappointed by the lack of a ruling … Chemical abortion poses serious complications for women that can include heavy bleeding, intense and prolonged pain, infection, and even death. Every day of delay is a day that unborn children and their mothers are at risk from these dangerous drugs. We thank the Trump administration for fighting for vitally important health and safety protections and are confident we will ultimately prevail.”


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